HULU SELANGOR: A holiday outing turned into a tragedy for a 19-year-old Yemeni student who survived a water surge at the Lata Jebus campsite along Sungai Luit in Kuala Kubu Baru yesterday.
Muhammad, a student at a private college in Kuala Lumpur, said he had gone to the campsite with four friends for a picnic during the Deepavali break.
They arrived around 5pm, when the weather was fine and there was no indication of an impending water surge.
“Three of us then went swimming along the riverbank when the current suddenly became strong and swept them away.
“Two of my friends managed to save themselves, but one is still missing,” he said when met here today.
Four bodies were recovered today, bringing the death toll to five, while three others remained missing.
Three bodies were found near Jambatan Senget, about 950 metres from the incident site, at 9.20am, while another was found near a suspension bridge, about 50 metres away, at 10.20am.
The recoveries came about eight hours after a 36-year-old local man was found dead near Jambatan Pertak at 1.30am.
Meanwhile, eyewitness B. Partiban, 27, said the deceased, V. Vijiyan, 36, had gone to the waterfall with a friend who was also a foreign national.
He said his cousin had planned to join a group of visitors for an outing and a swim in the river.
“I arrived at the waterfall later than Vijiyan. The water surge happened suddenly about 5.30pm, sweeping away logs.
“The current was extremely strong. We could only stand and watch as even large rocks were swept away. I did not realise Vijiyan had also been carried away by the surge,” he said.
Vijiyan’s body was found about 2.7km from where he was swept away at Lata Jebus.